the 42nd Hunger Games
by cristalbic
Summary: Five people from different districts are all this years tributes in the 42nd annual Hunger Games - but these five people have different stories, backgrounds and reasons to fight... and they sure aren't going down easily. What terrors await the tributes in a Games that not even people in the Capitol are going to forget in a hurry?


_Chapter One - the Reaping_

* * *

_**District 12 - Torin**_

Light flooded slowly through the gaps in the patchy, moth-eaten curtains of the man's home. Torin's fingers danced in the rays, her skin soaking up the sun. How long she had to lie there and pretend that she wasn't getting horribly used to this sordid act was unbeknownst to her. Could she act like the lump of human next to her wasn't in reality a snoring, sleazy man, but her truest love who she was proud to lie with? No, was the truthful answer that flicked into Torin's mind as soon as the thought came into it, but she couldn't help but hallucinate her world into something it wasn't on these warm, sunny mornings.

Her eyes needn't glance back to him to ensure he was still asleep - the grunting noises that sounded as if they originated from deep inside his large, pulsating belly told her that he was. She slid her slim frame from the thin, silky sheets of the bed the man whose name she had forgotten and tip-toed across his wooden floors. Balancing perfectly from the tens of hundreds of times she had been with men for money before, she made no board creak under her weight as she hunted around the canvas of the room to find glints of the money that the man owed her for her services.

At the door, she glimpsed back toward him. As she noticed the glint of dribble seeping from the corners of his mouth, she felt her stomach twist with nausea. Another night she had done this, but it meant nothing to her. She was getting the money to feed her little brother, the only way she could… and in the end, that was all that important to Torin.

* * *

_**District 1 - Llaina**_

All that was taken up in the reflection of the mirror was Llaina's body. It glistened with water droplets from her bath, but Llaina felt like it looked an eternity more beautiful when so naturally covered with water. She touched the reflection carefully, almost as if she was afraid if she pressed too hard against the mirror, then her beauty would crack alongside it. Perfection was needed more so than ever in these next few weeks.

Today, she would volunteer. Then they would all be brimming, teeming and exploding with the innermost desires for her. This was the dream of Llania.

* * *

_**District 4 - Kira**_

'Kira!'

Malikisha's voice threatened to win against the sound of the shower splashing down onto the hard tiles in the washroom at the training centre. Kira smiled smugly against the wall as her fingers spread against the follicles of her hair, allowing the water to rinse thoroughly between the strands.

'Kira!'

As suddenly as the shouting started did Malikisha enter the room. Steam was billowing through the room, meaning that Kira couldn't actually see her best friend, but her voice was booming out to the far ended door, getting closer, closer, closer as Malikisha tried to find her, letting Kira know where abouts she was in the bathroom

'Dammit, Kira! It's reaping day, you can't be in here!' Malikisha exclaimed, now only a few metres away from Kira. Pulling the small, plastic-covered handle that gauged the temperature away from her, the stream of water turned off and the evaporate slowly dispersed around the room. Kira turned around to face her friend, who quickly retorted, 'Love of all seven skies, Kira - put a towel on! Shit, here, take mine, damn sake, girl!'

Chuckling wholeheartedly, Kira gratefully accepted the fluffy, cotton pink towel and wrapped it around her slim, but hard, muscled body. There wasn't a day that went by that Kira didn't train here - since the day she turned twelve and was eligible to be reaped, she came there. Morning; noon; night; without fail, you could find her there. Through it, Malikisha, head trainer at the District 4 training centre, and herself had been forced into bonding. They saw each other constantly, and Malikisha often has to tell her to leave when the centre was past it's closing time and Kira was exercising still. Nevertheless, over the years, the pair had gotten inevitably close. Now, they were almost like sisters.

From one day of many the twosome had spent together, there was one that Malikisha couldn't ever forget: the day she asked why Kira was here so often.

'Mali,' she responded lightly, 'it is not that I wish to hurt anyone, or win the Games, or just be better than everyone else… but you see, the day my parents died, I needed something else. Something that could take my mind away from the pain that suffered inside me everyday. This place gave me that. I could shoot arrows at targets, or learn how to climb through nets like they were the canopies of trees, or make knives dance. Learning new skills helped me grieve over their deaths - now I'm growing, and I want to help everyone like me.'

What Malkisha thought of Kira changed dramatically from that moment onwards. Kira didn't want to hurt, she just wanted to learn, help, fill up her days with something worthwhile and meaningful to her, just the same as Malikisha. When the time came, she knew exactly what she would ask Kira.

* * *

_**District 2 - Oska**_

With a start, Oska woke abruptly, his dreams still echoing loudly. _No fear, no fear, no, no fear! _No fear, he confirmed, but he shook with the premise, the idea of it. Just the idea.

Generations of his family has been there, done that. They had the riches, houses, clothes and the food to prove it. His family walked through the streets like each of their steps were carved in silver and gold. They were, though, weren't they? How could they not be? They were all victors - his father, his mother, his sister, his aunt. And now this was the 42nd annual Hunger Games, and now this was his turn.

He couldn't let fear in. He had worked for this, trained hard. It was what he had been bred for, after all. He could not lose, he could not let them down as he did so often. Not winning wasn't an option to Oska.

* * *

_**District 6 - Ean**_

The sun had barely risen from it's nighttime slumber behind the moon before Ean was up at the barn, although he didn't wait long. Ashler was almost as eager to see him as he was her. A smile erupted from his face as he saw her red hair prance like pixies in the wind. Within seconds, they were in each others arms, holding each other so tightly with such happiness and vigour it was as if they hadn't seen each other in years, when in reality it had been less than a handful of hours on the clock.

She pulled away too soon for Ean's liking. He had been holding her like this for years, just months after they met when they were just but ten years old, they were holding hands in their schools playground, playing 'kiss me if you can' and playing make-believe games with each other that included getting married and having endless happy children who were immune from the dangers that their District had on offer, including the Hunger Games.

Ashler smiled deeply, reaching into Ean's eyes, his mind, screaming with face that she adored everything about him and always had. The pair collided in a sloppy kiss that caused them to giggle against each others teeth, before falling into the hay of the emptied barn. They wasted no time.

This was the tradition that they held every year the morning of the reaping, saying goodbye in the closest way that they possibly could. _Our love could even make the Capitol fall, _thought Ean.

* * *

_**District 12 - Torin**_

The eyes of her brother followed her as she slowly closed the front door or the small shack her brother and her lived in. 'Where have you been?' he said precipitously.

'Shit!' Torin blurted out. 'Why are you sneaking up on me? Why are you awake?'

'It's reaping morning. I can't sleep.' he said.

Torin winced. Innocence laced his voice brutally. The boy was sitting at the table. Only nine, he was already so afraid of a fate that couldn't even yet be his. But it could be Torin's. She was seventeen and her name had was in that deep, clear oval bowl so many times she was surprised they didn't have to get a larger bowl. Eager to steer away from any thought that was the Hunger Games, she rooted in the pocket of her tight-skinned trousers that she had worn the night before to attract men, she pulled the coins out that she had earned.

'Where did you get that?' her brother asked.

'Jaq, why are you so full of the questions today, hmm?' she asked, buttering up the tone of her voice to the give it a more motherly feel. She didn't want him to know the truth of what she did to earn the money that paid for their bread. Who knew how it would make him see her? Torin didn't want him to look at her with anything other than love. He was all she had in the world, and he was all Torin had, too.

Jaq shrugged, 'I just care about you,' he murmured.

'Speak up! All you do is mumble!' she said playfully, tugging his ear, with that, tugging a smile from his thin lips too.

'I said: I care about you!' he almost shouted.

Torin laughed and began to tickle him. 'Yuck! Ew! Jaq cares about me! Gross!' The siblings giggled. Despite they were barely anything less than starving, sleep deprived and almost born into an early death riddled with health problems… they were happy. Here, there and now were stolen moments of happiness together for Jaq and Torin.

* * *

_**District 1 - Llaina**_

* * *

Her family cheered, applauded as she walked down the stairs in her glittering green dress. 'Beautiful, oh beautiful!' they cried when they caught a glimpse of her.

_That's what they'll all be saying in the Capitol! _she squealed to herself.

She smiled and thanked them all for their kindness. Her two twin little sisters and her mother showered her in love and affection all throughout breakfast that Llaina ate with no problems of a twisting, worried stomach.

Just before leaving to get one of the first spots in the stands at the reaping that she was anticipatedly waiting for, she caught sight of her black and white fuzzy cat who was sitting on the heater in the living room. She walked toward the cat who she called so often her baby, and held her long fingers out to rub him against the ears one last time before she went away to the Capitol and then the Games for a couple of months. He purred loudly. He loved her just as much as they in the Capitol would. She could hardly wait to volunteer. They would all undoubtedly fall head over heels Llaina.

* * *

_**District 4 - Kira **_

'I need to ask you something, Kira,' Malikisha started.

'Hmm?' Kira mumbled absent-mindedly. She was plaiting the sunkissed dirty blonde strands of her still-drying hair. Tiny, indistinct rays of hope were infiltrating her system - this was her last reaping day, her last eligible year. Then, once nineteen, she would free from the death-grip that the Capitol clamped on her. The Games had taken away her father, left her mother impregnated, to struggle with an unborn baby, only to die. Her mother couldn't work with Kira still a young infant, crying, needing food at all hours of the day and night. It was too much for her mother. Kira was taken to the foster home on the outskirts of her district just hours after her mothers' death. But as soon as Kira was eighteen… they couldn't control her like they did her parents. Taken too soon.

Malikisha grabbed Kira's hand suddenly, 'Stop. I need you to listen.' she demanded.

'Okay, okay,' Kira laughed, tugging her hand away from Malikisha's tight grip. She felt light despite the heaviness of the remainder of her parents on this godforsaken day.

Taking a breath, Malikisha began, 'Kira, it's just… You're nineteen in just a few weeks, you won't have the Games to worry about anymore, and I was just… I was just, you know, wondering if...'

'Spit it out, Mali! Gosh, I know you're no one for sentiment, but out with it, lady!' she interrupted, giggling. She liked winding up her best friend as much as she could - it was her best source of entertainment.

'I was wondering whether you wanted to be a trainer!' Mali blurted.

'A… a trainer?' Kira gasped, all the air seemed to have knock out of her chest, but she was still smiling. This was the dream that Kira had always dreamed of since coming to centre. Malikisha nodded and beamed as Kira began to clap her hands exactasically. 'Yes, yes, yes! A hundred percent yes! Oh, Mali, I love you to bits!' she cried. The two girls hugged tightly, chatting about what being a trainer would be like once she was safe from the terrors of the reaping.

Nothing would ever, ever be better again than this for Kira.

* * *

_**District 2 - Oska**_

Voices boomed noisily from the kitchen of Oska's house. They were all sharing their stories of their personal victories. His father, winner of just the 11th Games; his mother, the 13th; his aunt, the 18th; his sister, the 23rd.

Oska tried to slip down the stairs quietly, trying to go unnoticed by the ruffle of people that were congregating in his home, but he failed miserably. Of course they were all waiting for him. How couldn't he have known that this 'little' gathering was for him?

'Son! Come!' his father bellowed him into the kitchen. Squeezing between the mesh of bodies of his seemingly endless aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, grandparents and whoever else, he muttered small 'hello's and 'how do you do?'s while being slapped on the back and kissed on the cheek by relatives that were eager to kiss another soon-to-be-victor. Each touch made uneasiness spread through him like wildfire. Was this really the future that was destined for Oska?

* * *

_**District 6 - Ean**_

Ean kissed Ashler again and again and again before stepping into his home. He was quickly greeted by the warm hugs of his family. Formations of a smile carved their way onto his face unwillingly. Now Ashler had left him, the weight and worry of the reaping stuck inside him. This was the same every year. They would make love as if it was the last time, then nothing even his own flesh and blood of his family could say to him could calm him down. What if he was picked? He would never see her again, touch her, kiss her, laugh with her. And what about his family? Their farm? He couldn't stand being away from them. The thought made his bones ache with grief.

But not even his nightmares created what actually happened to Ean.

* * *

_**District 12 - Torin **_

The video played out its usual, propaganda-filled message; the voice of the District 12 escort droned in and out of Torin's ears as they did every year. It was only when Torin's name was called out did her ears break out of the sweet, naïve slumber they had fallen into.

Only out of biological instinct did Torin's legs move up towards the stage they had erected specially for this reaping day. It was only when she was up there, with some other unlucky boy standing next to her, her escorts hand sitting faintly placed on her shoulder, directing her toward the town hall before she remembered Jaq. Her eyes didn't have time to find him in the crowd before she was shoved through the great wooden doors.

One thought flitted through her mind and then raced back and forth: would Jaq survive without Torin?

* * *

_**District 1 - Llaina**_

Llaina was standing at front of the red rope that held all of the potential reapers, waiting, waiting for the exact second that she could volunteer. The second that their escort had plucked the name from the large glass bowl that stood like a trophy at the front and opened her mouth to say the female tributes name did Llaina shout the two words that would mark her down in history as a victor.

'I volunteer!'

Swaying her hips side to side as she walked up the stairs to the stage, a few people from the crowd whistled at her. _Beautiful, I am beautiful,_she reassured herself in tune to the sounds of the adoring boys in her district.

Taking her pride and place against her escort, the male tribute was then picked, but quickly volunteered by a boy who Llaina knew from school called Nicolaos. _Buff, beefy - but beatable_, she concluded to herself. This Hunger Games were Llaina's.

* * *

_**District 4 - Kira**_

The reaping was second place in mind to the idea of being a trainer to Kira as she stood in the stringed pens they kept all the 12 to 18 year olds in on reaping day. Trainer! Trainer! Nothing would get in the way of this, nothing!

Meanwhile the thoughts of aiding future kids get fitter and have fun in the training centre rumbled through her mind, the District 4 escort plucked through the bowl and pulled out a sheet of folded, crisp white paper. 'Alicia Campbell,' the escort called.

A small, shattered gasp spread through the crowd as everyone turned to face the front. Kira saw a small, frail young girl, no older than thirteen, for sure. The girl, Alicia, wasn't even trying to hide the streams of tears now flooding from her eyes. The sight made Kira break. There was no hope for little girls like Alicia to live against the career pack likes of District 1 and District 2, who, like Kira, trained in centres. But those Districts were different. They felt like winning the Games was some sort of honour, it made them above everyone else, like royalty. The idea that they were training with the weaponry to kill others, instead of how Kira dealt with them as just a harmless hobby, made her feel sick.

Alicia took centre stage, her body racking with dry, heaving sobs of fear and sadness. Kira noticed her staring out past the crowd. She turned around out of curiosity to see what the young girl was looking toward. It was a family of three: a mother, a father and a baby. Alicias' family was crying even more so than she was, if it was possible.

Kira had never felt so disgusted. What could she do, though? Alicia had no chance, and nothing Kira could do could change that… Except, she could, really. But the reality of actually taking the girls place was unthinkable. Kira could never… she would never… save someones life? Someone, who had so much less chance than Kira herself? Kira trained everyday for hours and hours, relentlessly… and Alicia? The poor, dainty girl… would be dead in just minutes of the Games… her family… they would mourn, grieve. Her baby brother, or sister…. they would never even know her.

Spurred by an unbelievable drive to do something she could never have imagined happening in all of her life, Kira knew she had to save Alicia. Alicia needed to live! She was so young, so, so young. She had so much ahead of her. Kira couldn't let herself not volunteer in her place.

So, she stepped out wordlessly and walked toward the stage. She hugged the little girl more tightly than she realised she was before she stood up with bravery tied around her skin. Leaning into the microphone, she called out the words. 'I volunteer.'

'And, what is your name, dear?' the escort asked with intrigue.

Solemnly, she looked out to Alicia who was now rejoined with her family. Alicia's father looked straight to Kira. He nodded.

'Kira.'

* * *

_**District 2 - Oska**_

'I volunteer.' Oska's voice called out just milliseconds after the tributes name had been chosen. But now, he was the tribute and now he was going into that arena.

From the stage, he distinctly saw his family waving to him and clapping with the ultimate form of pride. They chanted his name, their next victor in the line of many probable others. 'Keep the family heritage, son,' Oska's father had said to him just before they had left. 'Or you may as well just not even bother calling yourself our family.'

Strangely, as he stood there, now avoiding the glare of his family's eyes scratching into him, the idea of not being a part of that family seemed strangely welcome to Oska.

* * *

_**District 6 - Ean**_

They all stood side by side, row by row in the stands of the central square in District 6. Ean was with the boys, Ashler was with the girls. Their escort wasted no time in scrambling in the large bowls for a scrap of paper where a name was etched on. First - the boys.

Some random boys name was called, and Ean blew a small breath of relief as he took stage and the escort welcomed him to the 42nd annual Games. There was no worry for Ean now - only one more year of a reaping until he was immune of this constant worry that he would stolen away from his family and his girlfriend.

Ean was so caught up in the thoughts of _one more year, one more year, one more year, _that he barely noticed Ashlers' name being called.

He watched the same mound of red hair, that was dancing only hours earlier, bob up and down sadly to the stage. He watched as she took her place next to the District 6 escort. He watched as her back began to turn to go into the town hall where she would soon say her goodbyes. He watched as her eyes quickly flicked to find him in the crowd. He watched as their eyes locked, saying a million words that could never be said.

But, she watched as he ran toward the stage. 'No! NO!' he screamed. 'No! No, I volunteer, I volunteer, take me, take me! Not her, take me!'

The words of mercy spilled from his lips. The same lips that kissed her… three, four hours ago? He didn't know, he didn't care. He just wanted to save her.

'I'm sorry, chap, but you can't volunteer in place for the girl. Only the boy.' the escort said.

'Then fine, I volunteer, whatever, just please, let me be with her.' Ean begged. He had now reached the stage and was just metres away from Ashler, but he couldn't stand to look at her. She would be mad, he knew that… But he couldn't just let her go. Not like this, not ever.

'I'm not sure. You were suppose to volunteer when we called the male's name out.' the escort hesitated. 'But, if you really, really want to do it...'

'Yes, please, god, yes,' he panted through sobs.

'Very well!' the escort chirped, grabbing his shoulder and shoving the other boy away. Ean took his place, filed into the town hall alongside the escort and Ashler. This was his fate, now. And he would dedicate every moment of it to protecting Ashler.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading! Please, please, review this story and keep reading! I'll upload as often as I can - trust me, things are only just beginning for these five! **

**3**


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